PNG vs JPG vs WebP: which format should you use?

Published 9 November 2026 · SnapFixy team · 4 minute read

Somewhere right now, a form is rejecting someone's upload because it wants a JPG and they have a PNG, and a website is loading slowly because its photos are five times heavier than they need to be. Almost every image-format problem comes down to three formats — PNG, JPG and WebP — and picking the right one is mostly a matter of knowing what each is for.

The one-sentence version of each

• JPG is the photograph specialist: tiny files, works absolutely everywhere, no transparency.
• PNG is the perfectionist: every pixel preserved, supports transparency, but heavy for photos.
• WebP is the modern all-rounder: usually smaller than JPG at the same quality, supports transparency — but a few older apps still can't open it.

How they actually differ

Compression. JPG and WebP are "lossy": they make files small by discarding fine detail your eye is unlikely to miss, and you control how much with a quality setting. PNG is "lossless": nothing is discarded, ever. That's why the same photo might be 300 KB as a JPG, 220 KB as a WebP, and 3 MB as a PNG — and why PNG is the wrong choice for camera photos almost every time.

Transparency. PNG and WebP can store see-through areas — essential for logos, product cut-outs and overlays. JPG cannot; transparent pixels become white. It's also why our background remover delivers PNG: it's the format that keeps the hole where the background was.

Compatibility. JPG opens in everything ever made. PNG is nearly as universal. WebP is supported by all modern browsers and most current software, but older apps, some office tools and the odd upload form still refuse it — which is why "convert this WebP to JPG" is one of the most common conversion jobs there is.

Simple rules that cover most situations

• Photo for a website: WebP if your platform accepts it; JPG if it doesn't. Compress it properly either way — our guide to compressing without losing quality shows the settings.
• Photo to share, email or upload to a form: JPG. Maximum compatibility, sensible size.
• Logo, icon, diagram or anything with text: PNG (or WebP). Lossy formats make text edges fuzzy; lossless keeps them crisp.
• Screenshot: PNG for the same reason — screenshots are mostly text and sharp edges.
• Anything with a transparent background: PNG for compatibility, WebP for size. Never JPG.
• Your master/archive copy: keep the original format, untouched. Convert copies for specific uses.

What about the other formats you might meet?

Two more deserve a mention. HEIC is the format many phones save photos in by default: it's efficient, but plenty of websites and older Windows setups still can't open it, so converting HEIC photos to JPG is a common rescue job. AVIF is a newer web format that can beat WebP on size, but support in everyday apps is still patchy — fine for your own website if you test it, risky for files you're sending to other people. And GIF survives mainly as the animation format; for still images it's almost always the worst choice of the four, with a limited colour palette and large files. When in doubt, the rule of thumb holds: JPG or WebP for photos, PNG for everything with edges, text or transparency.

Two conversion warnings

First, converting can't add quality back. A JPG saved as PNG keeps every flaw the JPG already has, in a bigger file. Conversion changes the container, not the content. Second, converting a JPG to JPG again (or repeatedly re-saving any lossy format) stacks small losses each time — always convert from the best original you have.

When you do need to switch, it takes seconds: our image converter turns PNG, JPG and WebP into each other in your browser, without uploading the image anywhere — handy when the file in question is a personal photo or an unreleased design.

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